Co-Pilot II - How To, Made Simple!

[TeeJayShelton]

I don't believe there is anything you will be able to do about that. Im at the 37 and don't find I have the same issue. If your able to just always fly with it and auto trim off and use it as a bailout in which case it will be way more than level enough to where you can take the sticks back. If you use it in this capacity you will also find its recovery time much faster. When you turn it on and have the sens level jump fast to a high #(I actually use 100) and you have emergency recover enabled then you will see how fast this thing can level yet it wont affect your normal flying when you have it off.. I like to keep it off and use it this way but I do have it mixed through a knob so I can turn it on a little/alot for diff people I let try my heli. If you are using it on all the time and want a really stable slide free platform I guess in your location you will need to try something else. If you want something affordable that will level your heli super fast when you get confused and never get confused itself keep the Co-Pilot

[alanhf]

Thanks, TeeJay. I was hoping not to hear that.

What do you mean by "sens level jump fast to a high #(I actually use 100)"? Do you mean the Stick Priority setting? Or something else? I changed stick prio to 150 because of the "push-back", hoping it would reduce it. Didn't.

Yes, I plan on using it as a confidence builder while beginning some 3D. And I'm sure it will work for that. But I'm not too sure about accurately reaching for the Aux2 switch (DX7) in time - hence leaving it on all the time. Quicker just to let go of the stick.

Also, the push-back in FFF might make me develop a bad habit that will burn me when CP2 is off.

[TeeJayShelton]

I'm talking about what would be your endpoint setting in the dx7. I run mine at 100 so it levels super fast. On your drift isuue what I would do if I were you is be sure that auto trim is off and fly with co-pilot off. Co-Pilot's Emergency Recover function is only active when it is turned on from off or if there is a rapid gain from a low remote sens level to a high one. Co-Pilots remote sensativity does not adjust sensor gain it adjusts the amount of throw CP has over the servos. When Emergency Recover kicks in it on last a second or so but what it does is it takes whatever your throw setting is a doubles it for a very fast recovery. Take it up high and try it out. Take it out of level with cp on and then let go of the stick.... then(be sure you have ER enabled via the programmer) take it up high with cp off and take it out of level a ways then flip it on... you will see it is much faster recovery at this point. Now if you go into your tx and adjust the endpoint of CP-2 on switch to 100 then you will see it recover very very quickly. (you need to be sure that when you did the setup of cp2 that when you assigned the remote switch and had it "learn" the value of that switch it was a 100% end points or it may not recognize the real endpoint as level flight at all...You can verify this easily enough by just watching on the programmer what mode cp2 tells you its in and what % of the mode is listed too. make sense?

[TeeJayShelton]

I don't like flying with it on at all because I want it to feel natural. I dont want it correcting me in any way unless I specifically ask it to and then when I do ask it to I want it done immediately if not sooner. I am very very happy with it the way I have it. It works very well. It looks funny and is a PIA when it is on cause I have it turned up so high but I dont care I want fastest recovery time then once its recovered I'm flipping it back off and continue my flight

[TeeJayShelton]

BTW I run 150 on the stickk priority so that when it is on at least I can override it easily enough even if it does fight me. If you want to fly with it on and have it fight less try lowering the endpoint on you control channel so it has less influence but is still on.

[alanhf]

Many thanks.

I agree about the "feel natural".

I had the Aux 2 away from me for OFF and towards me for ON. Thinking about that, I have now reversed it, so it's easy now to "flick" it away from me for ON without moving the hand too far.

So now I will try your suggestion - always off until needed. The endpoints were already at 100% and will stay there.

So now just one last question if you don't mind. Turning the programmer on with enter/dec - "searching...." gets "IRNet Router v1.7". enter/dec again "searching ... " gets "Copilot II v1.41". Many times I can't seem to go further from there, and keep repeating this cycle until (sometimes) I get "Receiver = 5.77v No Brown Outs" and again can't get further. Do this enough times I get to the menu items, but for the life of me I can't figure the proper key sequence to get it reliably each time. What's the magic trick? Or do I have a duff programmer?

[TeeJayShelton]

not brb I'll turn mine on butI have never had any probs it goes just like you said..
ir router , then co pilot , the the next scree i think is quick setup then scroll to what I really want to do.... I'll check in right quick and get back to you.

[TeeJayShelton]

Hey I just tried it and I just hit enter, enter, then I am at the Preflight screen

[alanhf]

Pressing enter twice in quick succession helped a bit, but it still gets stuck at the "No Brown Outs" screen, and the only way out is to enter/dec again once or twice to start over. At least it eventually works.

I'll try reducing the "gains for stability" somewhere down the road to see if it reduces the "solar drift".

Again, thanks for your help.

[tcroak]

So if I go back and re-trim the heli mechanically, should I disconnect CPII or can I just turn it to 'off' while the gyro switch is in 'off'?

Thanks!

[tcroak]

This is how I have everything connected on my blade 400 and I hope someone will find it useful.

I got everything trimmed out and working well. I must say, I love the CPII!

[tcroak]

Ok, I'm flying this on a Blade 400. I've gotten everything set-up mechanically and even tested the 400 with CP II and I love it. When I test flew it, everything held in place like it should (have a GY401 on there with a DS420 servo) very well.

I've noticed now though that whenever I put in a left or right rudder that the servo will not return to center when the stick is centered. Is it a function of the gyro (just installed it) or is there something in my set-up that's incorrect?

Never mind, I figured it out. Apparently it's important to remember to set your travel limits to prevent binding!

[1974rookie]

hi nightflyr.

just a few qs.
is the stick priority 0% cp2 has total control and 150% has no control,

i dont understand the gain setting for pitch and roll could you explain and what effect it has on sticks.
thanks in advance

darrel

[TeeJayShelton]

Not night but I'll help,

reverse 150 is max control for you when you move the stick away from center...
The agin for the pitch and roll wont really affect the sticks but will affect the recovery rate and if too high may make it twitchy.. when you are close to centerstick with it on...
The remote level decides how much control cp2 has over the heli when the sticks are close to home... when this is up very high(i leave it at max but fly with it off) for me it causes a tail bob when going into or out of forward/backward flight unless transitioning quickly, this can be tuned down but I dont care as I leave it off and want it to go into emergency mode when I turn it on.

[nightflyr]

hi nightflyr.

just a few qs.
is the stick priority 0% cp2 has total control and 150% has no control,

At either extreme, the pilot still has control over the helicopter, the % you choose will be the amount close to center cyclic that the CPII will function at.

i dont understand the gain setting for pitch and roll could you explain and what effect it has on sticks.
thanks in advance
The gain settings for Ele and Ail allow the Main sensor to seek a level position at a certain speed and rate, too much gain on either can often cause the shakes, while too little will mute the effect to a point it doesn't work.
These gains are not directly tied to your sticks, but more to the way the CPII will function as a system
Start with the factory setting for the gains, if you need to adjust them do it in small steps.

[philippets]

Hi,
I just installed CPII on my compass 600E and although I could get the "system OK" in the preflight check on the initial setup, all I'm getting now is a bad weather warning on all subsequent power up of the system, regardless of the weather, sunny or partly cloudy, grass or concrete area.
Do you have any idea what could cause this?
I have CPII installed on 2 of my other birds with no issues, so I'm clueless to what's going on.

[nightflyr]

To begin with, I would triple check all connections to the avionic computer then check the location of your vertical sensor,

[Howard Matos]

Originally Posted by philippets

Hi,
I just installed CPII on my compass 600E and although I could get the "system OK" in the preflight check on the initial setup, all I'm getting now is a bad weather warning on all subsequent power up of the system, regardless of the weather, sunny or partly cloudy, grass or concrete area.
Do you have any idea what could cause this?
I have CPII installed on 2 of my other birds with no issues, so I'm clueless to what's going on.

Hi,

Make sure the red arrow on the vertical sensor is pointing towards the sky and that the cable coming out of the sensor matches the label. If the label was installed upside down, the cable will come out the opposite side of the label.

[nightflyr]

Howdy H

[philippets]

Originally Posted by nightflyr

To begin with, I would triple check all connections to the avionic computer then check the location of your vertical sensor,

Thanks for the quick answer. I'll need an extension to move the vertical sensor farther away from where it is now, it has a good view of both ground and sky though. Here in the Caribbean, we are experiencing very heavy rain and high humidity these days, could that be a problem if the air is saturated with water?